Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I want to bring this to the committee amidst the chaos, shock and horror that so many Canadians experienced over the course of the week with regard to the terror attack last Saturday in Israel.
A memo from the CBC was quietly circulated, but not so quietly, because it became public. It was telling a journalist to avoid the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas fighters in their publication.
For those on the committee—and I think most Canadians know this by now—Hamas has been a recognized terrorist organization in this country for over 20 years.
The memo that was leaked reads as follows: “Do not refer to militants, soldiers or anyone else as 'terrorists'." The words “do not” were emphasized in bold letters.
There's more in that memo. It reads: “The notion of terrorism remains heavily politicized and is part of the story. Even when quoting/clipping a government or a source referring to fighters as 'terrorists', we should add context to ensure the audience understands that this is opinion, not fact. That includes statements from the Canadian government and Canadian politicians.”
The question really is, Mr. Chair, if the Canadian government recognizes Hamas as a terrorist organization, as it rightfully should.... If you've read what the Canadian government says about that organization, you would quite understand why it was so definitively listed as a terrorist organization. If you further look at the Hamas covenant or the revised charter from 1988, Hamas has been clear on its genocidal intentions.
The memo was circulated by a gentleman named George Achi. He is the director of journalistic standards at the CBC, which of course gets a fair share of Canadian tax dollars. We would simply like to know why that direction of opinion was put forward by the CBC. It is, after all, a news organization that Canadians pay for, so we would expect that it would get news.
I move:
Given that Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the Government of Canada since 2002; that the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel left thousands of innocent people dead and injured; that an email directive sent from the director of journalistic standards of CBC News, Mr. George Achi, to all employees of CBC News, directed them to downplay coverage of the horrific, sadistic violence perpetrated by Hamas against innocent people in Israel by not referring to the attackers as terrorists, and to falsely claim that Gaza continued to be under occupation after Israel had pulled out in 2005; and [given] that the CBC receives $1.4 billion in public funding through taxpayer dollars annually and that this committee has a mandate to review government expenditures,
that the committee:
(a) denounce Mr. Achi's comments and report this to the House;
(b) summon the president of the CBC, Catherine Tait, to appear for two hours by herself within seven days of the motion being adopted;
(c) summon the CBC's director of journalistic standards, Mr. George Achi; and
(d) invite the CBC ombudsman, Mr. Jack Nagler, to appear for a minimum of two hours to address the CBC's position on journalistic standards and practices.
That is the motion that I'd like to put forward to the committee, Mr. Chair.
With that, I will turn it back to you.